Goodnestone Equi Training

11/12/2024

We managed to squeeze a first time arena hire in for Jackpot De Hus prior to our fab truck returning to the UK for its annual service, MOT and to be sold 🥲
Pottist was such a good boy and is a credit to Lee for all the work he’s been putting in whilst I’ve been sidelined. V proud morning 🥰 Thank you so much to the Team at Equus Ourique for being so accommodating as always 👌🏼♥️
PS we are only selling our awesome truck as the cost to matriculate it (make it legal) here is huge and not viable so let me know if anyone is interested or would like more information 👍🏼

10/12/2024

Exercises to improve technique……. Thank you Mr John Bunyan I think they worked 😉💪🏼👌🏼

02/12/2024

Very wise words 👌🏼👍🏼

Monday's can be a great start to the week but ..if it’s freezing cold🥶, raining ☔️or blowing a gale 💨 it's perfectly normal to have lower motivation 😟 at this time of year. It doesn’t define you, it defines the time of year when nature intends it to be so.

Don't worry that your horse isn’t nearly competition fit yet... life throws a few curve balls ☄️now & then! Redefine your plan according to fitness and progress- keep it fluid as all sorts can change. Take your time and make that plan, Rome wasn't built in a day! 🏛️

Training is beneficial when both horse and rider are responsive ... If not then take a break and come back refreshed. 🤩

Comparing yourself to riders who have more facilities, more time or a totally different set of circumstances to you is a waste of your energy. Everyone is on their own track and has their own goals, so eyes ahead 👀and focus on yours.

As long as your horse is fed well, warm, loved, cared for like a King or Queen👑and able to enjoy life just like you...it will have the life it needs.

Winter is hard❄️. It’s cold, it’s wet, it’s dark and it feels never ending and berating yourself for everything you aren’t doing or feel you should be doing won’t make it any easier, so take it easy on yourself and just take a breath.

You are doing just fine.🙌

20/11/2024

Livery space available December
5 or 7 day full
60x30 floodlit arena
20m round pen
12x12 stables
Cctv
Individual or group turn out
Please message for more info

09/11/2024

Chilled walk off after today’s workout 💪🏼🥰😉

06/11/2024

Looking for your next horse?!?
these guys have a broad selection 👌🏼👍🏼

03/11/2024

So very lucky to have my awesome mentor, John Bunyans stallion Picknic de Walput to help get me fit to ride. Both of us have had time off so building up our strength together 🥰

18/10/2024

The traffic here is terrible 🙄🤦🏽‍♀️😉😂😂 First sit on in over 9 months, my goodness it felt good 🥰 My Buba black stallion is such a Dude, he’s not hacked out since before my op too!!!!’
I still may not be able to go up steps normally myself but I can on my pony……. He’s a top boy, first time and he was like a pro. Huge thanks to hubster Lee Hudson for progressing him for me ♥️🥰♥️

18/10/2024

And finally I am on behind those neat black ears 🥰 Having had a nasty bug after seeing my surgeon, then a set back with the knee we are at the moment back on track 💪🏼🤩 The saying you don’t appreciate something till you haven’t got it is an understatement 😉 ♥️🥰♥️

17/10/2024

Thank you Mark Williams for this, it made me smile 😉🥰

Just done a course on empathy I was asked what the opposite of Woe was? apparently giddyup wasn’t correct I thought I knew my Horses 🐎

28/09/2024

Living in Portugal 🇵🇹 this was brought to my attention. How wonderful that so many years ago a horseman was applying & coaching what we all should be following now 🥰👌🏼 The horse hasn’t changed just the humans 🤷🏽‍♀️😉🤦🏽‍♀️

Nuno Oliveira told us: ‘If the horse is happy, everything will be all right; if he is constrained everything will go wrong. And in case that it is necessary to use force, then one enters a domain that does not fit the equestrian art, neither for that matter, in the circle in which civilised people dwell’.
“I urge my readers to apply the aids to help the horse, not to put him in a mould.”
https://www.horsemagazine.com/thm/2021/10/the-aids-and-the-horse-a-classical-approach/

18/09/2024

Simply explained 👌🏼👍🏼🥰

“GIVE YOUR HARD WORKING HORSE TIME TO RECOVER!

Horses replenish their muscle fuel (glycogen) stores more slowly than humans, and working them hard on consecutive days will gradually result in impaired performance due to a lack of muscle fuel.

Fit horses should not be worked hard 5 or 6 days a week, and an easy day should always follow a hard day.

These rest (nil or easy work) days aren’t just key for muscle fuel stores, but also for muscle strength and stamina. Muscles break down during work, then build up in the rest period after work!

Performance horses should have their work tapered back in the run up to an event, to ensure optimal muscle glycogen levels and to ensure full recovery from the last bout of hard exercise.

Good hydration including adequate electrolyte intake is also important in optimal muscle glycogen replenishment.” - Clare MacLeod MSc RNutr Independent Equine Nutritionist

Something to think about…

(Give Clare’s page a like and follow. She puts out great stuff!)

23/08/2024

Just wow 👌🏼🥰

Martina Navratilova was once asked, “How do you maintain your focus, physique and sharp game even at the age of 43?"

She gave a humble reply, “The ball doesn’t know how old I am”. You need to stop yourself from stopping yourself. Every game in life is actually played on a 6-inch ground – the space between your two ears. We don't live in bungalows, duplexes, or flats. We live in our mind which is an unlimited area. Life is great when things are sorted and uncluttered there. Keeping the mind messy with hatred growing on the table, regrets piling up in the corner, expectations boiling in the kitchen, secrets stuffed under the carpet, and worries littered everywhere ruin this real home.

The key factor to performing well in life and in every arena is the ability to control the quality and quantity of your “internal dialogue”. Performance is potential minus internal interference. Live in peace, not in pieces.

12/08/2024

https://www.facebook.com/share/JFNHFKE3kGGu6bmh/?mibextid=WC7FNe

"How do you warm up your horses in the warm up ring?"

Every horse is different so I adjust my plan to suit each horse’s needs. We have a routine where I get on when I am sixteen horses out, and start jumping when I am eight out. We start the jumps out small in height, and don’t raise the jumps to be big at all– The practice ring is about staying relaxed and warming up the muscles, not about testing scope. Problems in the ring stem from the practice ring, whether it be that the horse isn’t relaxed or is over-jumping, so having a solid warm-up is key to doing well in competition.

04/08/2024

Well said! Lets enjoy the fantastic results and wonderful horsemanship and let the authorities deal with any unpleasantries. Life is too short to waste on negativity!!!!! 😉

*** THREE CHEERS FOR THE OLYMPIC EQUESTRIANS ***

Do I envy those riders out competing in Paris this year? Absolutely not. The pressure and scrutiny they must be under (from the “experts”, not the real experts, I hasten to add) must be immense.

How on earth do you give 100% focus to the competition in front of you, when you know that Sharon from Skegness is recording it all on Discovery + (which she finally discovered was how you watched the equestrian events after posting on FB 500 times to ask) and will play it ALL back in slo-motion later, to find THOSE photos that PROVE that horse’s noseband was too tight, his saddle didn’t fit, he was showing signs of pain in the half pass as he swished his tail twice? She is waiting to reveal to the world that at least half the riders at the Olympics ride in Rollkur, as she’s managed to get at least 8 stills of horses “BTV”; that wasn’t simply a moment of tension, it absolutely PROVES they are worked at home with their noses on their chests. She will post her concrete evidence on SM, for another 10000 Sharons to join in with crying emojis. Some will post angry emojis, to add to the drama.

I could go on, but instead I want to say THREE CHEERS for every single rider out in Paris. Not only have they all ridden beautifully, but they’ve managed to ride at an exceptionally high level, when 110% concentration is needed, knowing that they are being scrutinised by millions of armchair “experts”. I don’t think I could have done it.

Let’s all raise a glass, not only for the incredible results of our GB riders, but for every single rider at the Olympics, for coping with the current (somewhat crazy) situation we are currently experiencing with horse sport.

Photo from many, many years ago, when I won individual gold at the World University Equestrian Championships in Tokyo….and the Irish boys won the rest!